Facts and figures about the global decline in smoking from the U.S. government, international agencies and Worldwatch:
U.S. cigarette production, expressed in terms of consumption per person, dropped from 2,810 cigarettes annually a decade ago to 1,633 last year. World production dropped from its peak of 1,027 per person in 1990 to a 34-year low of 915 last year. Smoking has dropped 19 percent in France since peaking in 1985, 8 percent in China since 1990 and 4 percent in Japan since 1992. U.S. cigarette exports have been steadily declining since they reached a record 243 billion cigarettes in 1996. For 1997, it was 217 billion, for 1998 it was 201.3 billion, and for 1999 it was 151.4 billion. Exports of unmanufactured U.S. tobacco declined from 211,916 metric tons in 1998 to 189,379 metric tons last year. U.S. tobacco leaf production for 1999 was 14 percent less than a year earlier. Total tobacco acreage fell 9.6 percent from a year earlier, and the average yield for all tobacco fell about 100 pounds per acre. The average U.S. retail price for a pack of cigarettes rose from $1.31 in January 1998 to $2.35 in January 2000. The World Health Organization estimates that 10 million people will die annually from diseases linked to smoking by 2020, compared to 4 million today.